What Others Say: Chuck Hagel should receive confirmation

Republican senators roughed up their former colleague Chuck Hagel throughout his confirmation hearing Thursday to be secretary of defense, but they produced no convincing proof that his views are outside the mainstream or that the decorated Vietnam combat veteran is unfit to head the Pentagon.

At one point in the all-day session, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, complained that if Mr. Hagel were confirmed, he'd be an advocate for the "continuation of the misguided policies of the president's first term."

Well, one would hope the president's top advisers would generally support his policies. And, as for whether those policies are misguided, the voters have spoken.

Unless a nominee displays a major character flaw or holds extreme views, presidents deserve ample deference when picking their Cabinet secretaries. That's why in all of American history, just 1.3 perecent of Cabinet nominations have been rejected, and surely Mr. Hagel doesn't belong in that tiny, undistinguished company.

None of this is to say that the nominee is ideal or that his performance Thursday was flawless.

A low moment came when John McCain pressed Mr. Hagel on whether the nominee had been wrong to oppose the 2007 Iraq troop surge, which helped turn the war around. President Obama has admitted that the surge was more successful than he expected, and it wouldn't have killed Mr. Hagel to do the same. Instead, he refused to concede the point, an odd bit of stubbornness that might hint at other vulnerabilities.

That stubbornness could make him a valuable adviser. Many of the supposed weaknesses that GOP senators hammered him on are actually proof that Mr. Hagel takes thoughtful positions and doesn't bend easily to pressure.

Critics complain, for example, that he's too willing to trim the Pentagon budget, too prone to see daylight between Israeli and U.S. policies, and too cautious about committing to war to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Those opinions need airing.

At about 20 percent of all federal spending, the Pentagon budget should be scrubbed hard when one long war has ended and another is winding down. The U.S. must remain Israel's unwavering ally, but that doesn't require automatically siding with Israel's leaders on settlement policies or giving up the U.S. role as an independent broker in peace attempts. On Iran, Hagel is right to want to pursue reasonable alternatives to plunging the U.S. into yet another major war in the Persian Gulf.

For all the angry sound bites Thursday, Mr. Hagel remains likely to be confirmed by the Democrat-controlled Senate. Essentially, the criticism boils down to whether he's sufficiently devoted to the Republicans' world view.

That's not even remotely grounds to reject his nomination.

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What Others Say: Chuck Hagel should receive confirmation

Republican senators roughed up their former colleague Chuck Hagel throughout his confirmation hearing Thursday to be secretary of defense, but they produced no convincing proof that his views are